- Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) has been upgraded at Baird on the belief that the stock may have bottomed as the worst of the mining and commodity deflation cycle appears to have passed.
- Analyst Mig Dobre raised his rating to outperform from neutral, and boosted his stock price target to $101 from $80.
- Dobre feels the decline in commodity prices over the last several years has been on par with the 1980's bust, and that anything worse would resemble the cycle seen during the Great Depression, which would be unlikely given the significant stimulus from central banks around the world.
- Caterpillar's stock has underperformed the S&P 500 in each of the past four years through 2014, although it has never underperformed the broader market for five-straight years.
- Dobre also upgraded Joy Global (NYSE:JOY) to outperform from neutral, and raised the stock price target to $62 from $45.
- CAT +0.8%, JOY +0.8% premarket